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A Keerakh's Tale
A Keerakh's Tale is a story about six sentient Vahki that takes place during and after the Great Cataclysm. Story Prologue My name is Keerakh 447. I am writing this from a strange place in the core of the universe called the 'Codrex.' There is a huge energy storm outside. Anyone out there now will die. Hang on a second. You thought Vahki were all mindless, robotic law enforcers? And that they all lived in Metru Nui? And that they all died in the power surge or at the jaws of the Visorak horde? Of course they did. But us six left Metru Nui 1,000 years ago. What happened? And how is a Vahki writing this? I'll tell you now. Chapter 1 It all started when we were chasing a troublemaker in Onu-Metru. He was running away from us in the direction of the Archives. He ran into a cave nearby and tried to hide from us. But the floor was wet, as we found out when we slipped. The six of us rolled down a sloping floor and ended up in a pool of silver liquid. We sank to the bottom, and we changed. When we climbed out again, we looked the same, but we were completely different. We were just in the middle of figuring out what had happened to us when a huge cataclysm rocked the universe. Vorzakh scrambled to an opening in the side of the tunnel. "Look at this!" he shouted. We all ran over, and the first thing we saw was a huge, winged creature battling a team of Toa. "What's happening?" asked Zadakh. "I don't know," said Bordakh, "but we might be able to find out. Let's go look in the Archives." Chapter 2 Rorzakh spotted it first. He knew the Archives well, but he had never seen this before. It was a huge stone block, about eighty feet thick, at the end of a small tunnel branching off the Archives. Rorzakh had scouted ahead, seen the small tunnel about twenty feet from the entrance, been down it and spotted the block, and came back to tell us. We went down after him. "We need to get this block out of the way," I said to Bordakh. "There might be something else behind it." So Rorzakh, Vorzakh and Zadakh pounded on it with their staffs, while Bordakh, Nuurakh and I fired Kanoka at it. After about an hour, Rorzakh got frustrated and smashed a hole through the end of the block with his staff. We all climbed through. We found ourselves in the next part of the tunnel. There were bits and pieces of smashed lightstones and scorch marks on the walls. There were also footprints on the floor, each big enough to fit three Matoran in it. "Think someone got here before us?" asked Vorzakh. We followed the footprints into a small cavern. "Look! Over here!" Rorzakh shouted. We all ran over to what he had seen. Lying in one of the footprints was the head of a Kranua, a specialized Vahki model. We carried on a bit further into a huge cavern. What we saw surprised us. There was a huge dragon in the middle of the camp, devouring a pile of Vahki. At first, he was too busy eating to realize he was no longer alone. Then his eyes flicked up and caught sight of us. His vicious mouth curled into a smile. "Run!" shouted Bordakh, and we all took off up the tunnel. The dragon exhaled a huge fireball, blasting down the tunnel roof above us and burying us under a pile of rock. Chapter 3 When we woke up, the dragon was gone. However, a huge swarm of Visorak was tearing through the ceiling. "Okay, climbing's out," said Rorzakh. "Back through the Archives!" shouted Bordakh, and we all raced down the tunnel. But a small group of Visorak was coming in here as well. Nuurakh used his staffs to send in overriding commands and turn the spider creatures against each other, and when they had all destroyed each other, we could slip through. There were Visorak everywhere. Thousands of them. All headed in different directions. We all changed into spider mode, hoping they might mistake us for Visorak. As it turned out, we could get through. But one Visorak was a lot bigger than the others. He had massive pincers that looked like they could crush three Vahki at a time with no effort. He had obviously been a Vohtarak once, as parts of his legs were red, but most of him was silver. I remember wondering at that time if he was transformed by that silver stuff, like we were. He was headed somewhere, and we decided to follow him. Chapter 4 "Listen to me, bucket of sentient bolts!" the Visorak snarled, squeezing Bordakh harder in his massive pincer. The rest of us looked at each other, confused. How did this strange, silver and red Visorak know we could think, and feel? Or here's a better question — How could he talk? And another question — Who was the other strange white and red being who was standing next to him, with spines down his back, claw-like blades, sharp teeth, and a multi-shot blaster? We didn't know. "Tell me everything you know, unless you, uh, don't want to know whatever it is you know anymore!" snapped the Visorak. "Okay, uh, this is the city of Metru Nui!" Bordakh said. If he was scared of being snapped in two, he was hiding it well. The Visorak's partner walked over to Nuurakh and grabbed him in a headlock. "We already know that!" he growled. "If you want me to give your friend here a reduction in his life span, don't tell me what's going on here!" Vorzakh took a step forward. He prepared to fire his Kanoka. Then the spiny being waved a hand in his direction. As if grabbed by an invisible hand, he was tossed up into the air. He slammed into a boulder and fell to the floor, stunned. "Okay, I think that this is a takeover attempt," Bordakh said. "If I remember rightly, Visorak are associated with the Brotherhood of Makuta..." The Visorak did not loosen his grip on Bordakh, but he did not snap him either. "I know we are at war with the Brothehood, Lekaxx," he said to his partner, "but we definitely shouldn't fight." "No," agreed Lekaxx, kicking Nuurakh across the floor. "Too many. Let's go back and tell the Shadowed One, Visorak-Kal. I'm not looking forward to fighting a million Visorak." Oh, ''I thought. ''So they're Dark Hunters. Visorak-Kal dropped Bordakh to the floor. Vorzakh was back on his feet now. He watched as the Dark Hunters got back into their boat and headed for Odina. "Well, what now?" growled Vorzakh. "Metru Nui sinks under the sea? We all turn back into mindless, obedient police? Bohrok fall from the sky? Makuta Teridax gives us a hug?" "I don't know," said Bordakh, "but for some reason, I get the feeling that... that we are meant to jump into the Great Furnace." "Okay, that does it!" snapped Vorzakh. "I was perfectly happy as a mechanical law-enforcer. Even if it meant I'd be dead now, at least I wouldn't feel any pain! And why would any sane being just go jump in a fire? Fire is so...hot. Even Nuurakh wouldn't last five seconds in that cauldron!" "Maybe not under normal circumstances," Bordakh said, trying to calm down his angry partner. "But...I just feel that we are needed in a place under the furnace." "Okay," growled Vorzakh, not lowering his voice one bit. "Next time someone invites me to go on a mission, I'm going to say no, and before he can do anything, I'll turn him into a 'shambler'." "Shut up!" we all shouted together. Chapter 5 The six of us eventually arrived at the Great Furnace in Ta-Metru. Bordakh was the first to take a step toward the fire. "Well, I think we are meant to be down there, and if we melt...no great loss," he said, ignoring the angry look Vorzakh was giving him. Then, reluctantly, he stepped into it. He never screamed, and we couldn't hear any short-circuiting sounds. Then Nuurakh took a step towards the flames. He heard a scuttling noise behind him. "You're not going to like it," he said. "We have company!" We turned around. Why was the ground... moving? We couldn't see at first, but then we noticed lots of colors moving along the ground. Red, blue, green, brown, black, white. Then we heard the scuttling noises grow even louder, and also, hissing sounds. "Visorak!" A massive number of them was racing towards us, ready to tear us into pieces. They were blocking all escape routes. The only way out was into the fire... Chapter 6 "So how do we want our existences to end," Vorzakh said, looking from the horde to the flame, "Boiled in the furnace, or in some lucky Visorak's jaws?" "Shut up," said Zadakh. "I'm thinking." "Thinking about what?" asked Vorzakh. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe asking Nuparu to remove your mouthparts so you can't talk?" Rorzakh answered for him. "Now, are we going to argue, or are we going to get out of here?" "I vote for getting out of here," Nuurakh answered. Before anyone could ask how, he had vanished into the furnace. "Me, too," said Rorzakh, following him. "Well, I think we should..." began Zadakh. But before he could finish, Rorzakh's arm appeared out of the fire, grabbed hold of him, and pulled him in. "Well, what are you waiting for?" I asked Vorzakh. "Everyone knows by now that I hate getting burned, but... being melted is quicker than being Visorsnacks, I guess." "Let's go," I said. "None of the others seemed to have got hurt." "After you," said Vorzakh. "No, after you!" I replied. I could feel Visorak snapping at my legs. "Together," said Vorzakh, grabbing my staff. We jumped into the fire together. Chapter 7 Everything was bright around me. At first I thought we were burning. Then I realized that it was just the bright fire around me. Through the fire, I could hear Vorzakh shouting, "Hey! I haven't melted yet!" The fire got brighter the deeper we went, until it was so bright I had to close my eyes. And then... it suddenly went dark. We were under the furnace, in a dark chamber. I could make out my five friends. Someone else was in there as well. I couldn't make out who he might be, but I could see clearly that his armor had been improvised from many different colors and designs. I could see that he carried a sword in his right hand, but what really caught my eye was his left arm. Or what was left of his left arm. Or whatever. Anyway, I could see that only the top part of his left arm was still there. A large blaster had been fused to where the bottom half of his arm once was. Had this being lost his left arm in combat, only to find the blaster it once held and fused it back to the top part of his arm? And had this mysterious entity made contact with our minds to direct us to this strange place? Is that why Bordakh was so certain? Behind him were six tall cylinders. He could obviously see in the dark better than I could. He walked over to where the semiconscious Bordakh was, picked him up, and walked over to the first canister. He ran his hand across the side, and the canister opened. This was the last thing I saw before eventually I fell asleep. Chapter 8 I do not know how long I slept, but I woke up when I felt someone lift me off the ground. It was the strange being I had seen earlier. All of the others were in their canisters now. "Who... are you?" I asked the being. "Where... are we?" "I can't tell you who I am, but... you are about to start your journey to the Core. You will sleep for a long time, but these canisters are set so that you do not feel how long you are inside them." He put me into my canister. Then he dropped my staffs in next to me. "You will probably sleep in there for about 1,000 years, but it will only feel like one night to you. The canister will also repair any battle damage. When you wake up, you will hopefully be in a place called the Codrex." With that, he closed the lid. Then he threw a switch on a panel in the chamber. Our canisters began to move. They were tunnelling deep below Metru Nui, towards the place that the being had claimed was called the "Codrex," and our final destination. Epilogue Well, it was the shortest millennium I've ever known. It feels like last week that we stumbled on that silvery pool and became intelligent beings. We saw the Toa come in, and the Ignika trigger the storm. And speaking of the storm, it has stopped. I wonder if we can go outside... Characters *Keerakh 447 *Bordakh *Vorzakh *Nuurakh *Rorzakh *Zadakh *Teridax *Toa Metru *Kinetonax Dragon *Several Visorak *Visorak-Kal *Lekaxx *The Shadowed One *Eklektikon *Toa Nuva Category:Stories